Michigan Man Moves Mansion in Bid to Multiply Property's Value

How can you turn a property that won't sell into three that will, and make half a million in the process? A Michigan man thinks he's found the answer. But so far he's had to spend thousands and move house -- literally -- to find out.

Fritz Kruer (pictured at left) had been trying to sell his 6,600-square-foot house in East Grand Rapids without much luck, he recently told West Michigan TV station WXMI (as seen in the video above). "Everybody in town is more interested in building new homes than big old houses," Kruer told the Fox affiliate, "so we thought to make it possible to develop the property and create a couple more lots, we'd move the house." He only needed to have it moved about 60 feet, but "it's not cheap," he told the station, "about a hundred thousand dollars to move the house, with putting in a new basement and all the other things."

Kruer figured that he'd be able to sell the two vacant lots beside it for about $300,000 each to developers, and told WXMI that one already has sold. "People are tearing down homes worth more than that in town to get lots about the same size," he said.

Dietz is hardly the first in his neighborhood to take on such a project, though. A slightly smaller house in East Grand Rapids was moved 150 feet last year as the result a 30-acre development project, reports Michigan news site MLive. In that case, though, the effort was made to preserve and re-sell the 5,000-square-foot Robert Wilcox House, an 87-year-old Spanish-style mansion and local landmark that otherwise would have been demolished.